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In celebration of her 30th anniversary creating manga, Rumiko Takahashi is exhibiting a collection of her artwork. As of 2008, Takahashi has sold 170 million copies of her works, an achievement few other creators have managed. The exhibit itself will be held from July 30th through August 11th in the Ginza district of Tokyo on the eighth floor of the Matsuya building.

For those who do not know who Rumiko Takahashi is, Takahashi is the creator of such masterpieces such as Ranma ½ and Inuyasha. Michihiko Suwa, producer of the Inuyasha anime announces that a brand-new, 30 minute animated special entitled Kuroi Tetsusaiga (Black Tetsusaiga) would be shown exclusively at the gallery. In addition to the Kuroi Tetsusaiga special, there will also be a new Ranma ½ anime special entitled Okumu! Shunminkou, which is based on a story from Ranma ½ volume 34 by the same name.

For more than 20 years, Rumiko Takahashi has created some of the most beloved manga (Japanese comic) titles, which have, in turn, been adapted into popular anime series that are a veritable who’s-who of classic Japanese animation. One of the most popular series created from her manga, InuYasha, has been a big hit on Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim for a couple of years now.

Takahashi has amassed an enviable record as the creator of numerous beloved series. Manga and anime such as Rumic World, Maison Ikkoku, Urusei Yatsura, Ranma 1/2, and InuYasha are well known to many longtime anime fans, and they’re all Takahashi creations. Even more remarkable about her career is the fact that she is among the few female creators of shounen manga (comics predominantly intended for a male audience, although they can and do have a following among women as well).

Takahashi boasts a clean yet subtly detailed artistic style that can depict action or slapstick comedy with equal aplomb. She’s expert at eliciting amusement with her characters’ exaggerated facial expressions. On the writing side, her love of puns, wacky situations, and romance has led her to create some of the most unique and beloved manga series ever, each of which balances comedy and romance in varying proportions. Her superb and memorable characters have also won her acclaim and adoration by fans.

She also is fond of incorporating references to Japanese and other folklore in her stories. Her ability to produce thousands of pages of superb art and write clever and humorous plots and dialogue for Japan’s weekly manga publications is nothing short of astounding.

Decades ago when This One was still but a child of 10 or so, a subsidiary magazine of Electronic Gaming Monthly introduced me to the concept of anime, Japanese animation. Sure I watched a Doraemon movie but I thought animated media was for kids. The concept of cartoons for teenagers and adults was one foreign to my parents still to this day, and there was no Adult Swim then (yes I know there was Heavy Metal but that film was not in my awareness for another decade).

The particular anime that video game otaku introduced me to was a show entitled Ranma 1/2, based on a manga by Rumiko Takahashi of Nerima, Japan. Ranma Saotome was a teenage Martial Artist who was trained by his father, Genma, to be “a king amongst men.” Although the two were financially impoverished, they got by working marks. Along their journeys, they caught word of “the ultimate training grounds,” the purportedly cursed Jusenkyo Springs in China (probably in Yunan somewhere I would guess). Apparently, these springs were haunted by the spirits of those who drowned in them. If one was to fall into the springs, they would be cursed to assume the form of the fallen whenever s/he touched cold water. Not heeding the warnings of their bilingual Guide, they jumped on rail thin bamboo shoots overhanging the springs to spar. Ranma brutally knocked his father into a pool. He was startled seconds later when a rabid panda in his father’s now tattered gi pops up and paws him into a body of water. The brunette Ranma comes up for air and is started to find that he is now a buxom redhead girl. After some brief adventures in China, Ranma and father head to Japan to join the household of Genma’s good friend Soun Tendo as a prospective son-in-law to one of his daughters. Youngest daughter Akane Tendo also happens to be a very strong martial artist. And thus Ranma and Akane’s paths meet and chaos ensues~!

Sure it was not a perfect story. Ranma would announce his transformations as a curse until he needed to use them for a gainful purpose. No resolution one way or another was ever made of how he genuinely felt over his body and of his feelings towards Akane Tendo. The show/comic was homo- and transphobic at times (though in addressing the change in Ranma’s anima and animus, some transfolk may identify with this martial arts comedy fairy tale). And although the series was not Nietzsche, or even Jack Kirby’s Fourth World, Ranma’s coming of age story was like many of its kind: a young boy’s body changes drastically and he is confused over the metamorphosis to adulthood. He will be self-conscious and resentful at times. And thus like many other Hero’s Journeys, Saotome’s work as an allegory (the water which changes his gender is also representing of life and death) on many levels while providing hours of entertainment on end. And thus This One’s life was enriched if by a bit. So This One extends his most cordial and sincere wishes to the Queen herself, Rumiko Takahashi.

And for your edutainment intent, here are 5 articles throughout the 10 PM hour to commemorate 51 years of Rumiko Takahashi.